Michal, you are such a great reactor, I love how you recognize so many actors, and that you catch many references (not just in this reaction, but all of the reactions I've been watching). You catch themes. I just subscribed today and I am overjoyed that I have so many great reactions to get through on your channel! I watched the last few Breaking Bad reactions....I cried an ocean! Your English has always been excellent, but it has gotten even better since you started doing this channel! Ok, let me get back to this reaction, I'm only a few minutes into it! I just wanted to tell you how much I'm enjoying your channel!

😎👍 This film is a perfect snapshot of just how grimy New York (and Hollywood) was in the 1970s. Security cameras weren't a thing yet, which is why the Robert DeNiro character was able to easily get away with shooting the gunman in that corner store, and the guy behind the desk was able to beat him afterwords, with neither of them having to deal with much questioning from the authorities later on. Another thing to keep in mind, is how rare mohawk hairstyles were in 1976, although they would become a bit more common a couple of years later, when the punk rock explosion went a little more mainstream. That scene with him pointing the gun in the mirror and going "You Talkin' To Me?" has been heavily parodied over the years, most notably in the 3rd installment of the "Back To The Future" franchise. Jodie Foster in the 1970s was a bit like Christina Ricci in the 1990s. She went back and forth between edgier movies like this, "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" & "The Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane" and wholesome family fare like "Freaky Friday," "Candleshoe" and "Bugsy Malone." Two Martin Scorsese films that I don't think get nearly enough attention that I always recommend to people are "After Hours" (1985) and "Hugo" (2011). 😺👍

This is a "must watch" for true movie fans,...great reaction.

Loved your reaction -- every second of it, beginning to end! 🤗

Nominated for 4 Oscars including Best Picture but lost to ROCKY. This movie inspired John Hinckley Jr an obsessed fan to try and shoot President Ronald Reagan in 1981. When he was arrested they asked why he did it, he said that he did it to impress Jodie Foster. Reagan survived his gunshots and remained Commander In Chief until 1989.

"You're only as healthy as you feel." Fun Fact: Due to a garbage strike, much of the on-screen filth is real. Historical Fact: In the coffee and pie scene, Travis (Robert De Niro) orders apple pie with melted cheese. When serial killer Ed Gein was arrested, he asked the police for a slice of apple pie with melted cheese in exchange for a full confession. Body Double Fact: Jodie Foster was twelve years old when the movie was filmed, so she could not do the more explicit scenes (her character was also twelve years old). Connie Foster, Jodie's older sister, who was nineteen when the film was produced, was cast as her body double for those scenes. Key Scene Fact: Director Martin Scorsese claims that the most important shot in the movie is when Bickle (Robert De Niro) is on the phone trying to get another date with Betsy (Cybill Shepherd). The camera moves to the side slowly and pans down the long, empty hallway next to Bickle, as if to suggest that the phone conversation is too painful and pathetic to bear; this shot also showcases his isolation and loneliness.

Taxi Driver, Midnight Cowboy, Deliverance, and The Exorcist make for a fantastic 70s movie marathon date night……

I find it interesting that the problems Palantine talks about are the same problems we have today.

The guy Matthew/Sport gave money to was his Mafia boss.

10:55 The taxi's passenger watching the silhouette of his wife on another man's apartment is the film director Martin Scorsese making a cameo on his own film. 19:50 Actor Harvey Keitel has played different characters in six Martin Scorsese's films. 23:24 Jodie Foster was “allegedly" twelve years old when filming took place.

Trivia… the actress at the porno theater who sold Travis the candy (Diahnne Abbott) was Robert De Niro’s wife at the time. They were both in another great Martin Scorsese film you should see, “The King Of Comedy”.

Something else is a pretty good description of this film. The first time I saw it I couldn't think of any film to compare it to, it was so dark and grim compared to films I would normally have watched as a kid. I wondered if you've ever seen Jodie Foster's film Nell (1994)? She produced and starred in it, and she put in an excellent performance for her character as a young women who was raised in an isolated environment almost completely devoid of normal human interactions, and who was also linguistically isolated (she didn't speak any commonly understood language).

Jodie foster was only 12 when she auditioned for this flim!

I remember the mohawk having an even stronger impact because most people had never heard of punk rock at that time.

blessings!

The doubletake Travis did at the end was to show that Travis is still sick and he will do something else he probably shouldn't do.

the reason he cut his hair into a mohawk is because thats what soldiers in vietnam would do before going on a suicide mission

It's interesting to hear a woman's thoughts on what appears to be one of the seminal "male" films of all time - although it may be entirely naïve of me to think that makes too much of a difference? I have to stick up for the jazz in Hermann's score, though :) It's the music of loneliness, of being isolated while surrounded (like the saxophone), of desperately seeking a language of one's own, of managing only fleeting communication even when most successful. I think the main theme is a very seductive one, and they use this to different effects by interrupting it, or even playing it when Sport and Iris share that awful dance; it then becomes repulsive, only to return to soothing after a while... Perhaps like the streets and all their unseemliness? Perhaps there's a discovery in that too - that we actually enjoy that darkness. After all, we've watched *this*! And maybe, like Travis, we may produce something good from it after all. If we don't let it drag us to destruction.

1:18 Sure does. I bet they modeled the opening Dexter monologue after this. "Tonight's The Night. And it's going to happen again and again. Has to happen"...

I don't skip the intro! Grim, yes, but, Wow~ the performances! De Niro is absolutely brilliant. Jodie Foster is amazing. She was a favorite of mine from a very young age. Movies from the 70s are on a whole different level from acting to storytelling to cinematography. I felt like a lot of the movie Joker took a lot of inspiration from this film.

Excellent reaction. Very intense film. BTW, the director, Scorsese, made a cameo in the taxi as a customer.

Subbed

You were close. PETER BOYLE.

The pimp was played by a young Harvey Kietel.

I look at this film a little differently. Travis is the lost soul, who fought with the Marines in Vietnam. His sacrifices were not recognized unlike previous generations of veterans. In the 70s, Vietnam vets were either looked down on , or just ignored. America wanted to forget about the national trauma of Vietnam. Travis is working all this out in a state of post traumatic stress. He looks upon the whole society as fake, insincere and empty. The streets and low life of NY become a symbol for American society as a whole. Sybil Sheppard's character offers him a way out of this negativity. But he is projecting notions of purity and innocence onto her , like he once did as a soldier in terms of America. He is socially inept and has no idea how to navigate a relationship. He then feels betrayed by her, and sees her as another example of American degeneracy. His plan to assasinate Palatine is a way out. By striking down Palatine , he destroys a symbol of those that betrayed the soldiers in Vietnam (politicians), and a symbol of all the lies and phoniness of women, like Sybil Sheppard's character, who idolizes the falsity of Palatine. When he gets involved with helping Iris, he is able to act out against all these forces of degeneracy. After the violent slaughter, He's back in the uneasy state of mind he was at the beginning. He can either snap again or find his way to spiritual and mental heath by integrating himself into the real world. It's a dark film, but there's a message there that Travis isn't just a potential madman, he's where we could be if we kid ourselves into believing we are immune to all the evils that actually do surround us.

❤❤❤❤❤

i dont believe the overly idealic ending for one moment

23:07 So am I! ♎

Harvey keitel's in it too.

The letter from Iris's father and Travis' cab drive with Cybil in the end is thought by many to be fantasy by Travis.

I don't think an honorable discharge from the military should earn favoritism in the kinds of jobs that can be obtained. However, high GPA should keep you out of a taxi.

1:30 Not sure if anyone answered this yet, but "spook" is a really dated racial slur. Basically it means black people. It's kind of an older term, I've only ever heard grumpy old men use it.

In the 1970's, both California and New York as states were not liberated everywhere.

Jodie Foster was 13 when she was in this.

'Taxi Driver' is the absolute pinnacle of American cinema.

"Spook" is in the same family as the n-word.

"Spook" is an offensive term for black people. It's hardly ever used anymore.

There's a theory that Travis did not survive. The overhead shot is his soul leaving his body, and the end of the film isn't real.

My favorite Scorsese film and one of my favorites ever. Great reaction, Michal. You always make smart and interesting observations. And yes, Travis was a racist